Spotlight

Synopsis: Academics have never been Sofie's strong point; she’s too busy spending all of her free time with her boyfriend, Paul, the captain of her Surrey high school's soccer team. When her English teacher implements a new program that pairs her with straight-A student Clea, Sofie worries about how Paul will react to her hanging out with the only out lesbian at school. Sofie is as surprised as Paul at how close she and Clea quickly become. When Sofie discovers that Clea is planning a road trip to check out some American colleges over the winter break, she invites herself along, causing more issues with Paul. But it's only after a college student asks if Sofie identifies as a "femme" lesbian that she starts to question her own sexuality and her relationship with both Clea and Paul.

Excerpt

"Sofie." She turns to me. "Are you trying to tell me something?"
"It's time for a change, Mom."
"Are you...? Do you prefer this church? I mean, belong at this church?"
"Yes, Mom. I do."
She looks out the window and says nothing. Her face is turned away from me and I'm pretty sure it's because she's crying. I pass her a napkin I'd shoved into the pocket of the door one day when I picked up a drive-through meal.
"That minister in there? He's been married to his partner, a man, for more than twenty-five years," I say. "His husband was the first openly gay orgained minister in the United Church and he was the second."
Nothing but sobs and the back of her head.
"His husband's a politician. He's on city council."
All impressive stuff in mu humble opinion - but still nothing but sobs.
"I don't know what you're upset about. I thought the sermon was great and you said yourself you like the architecture."
"That's not the point." She sniffs.
"Mom, I'm not trying to hurt you."
"I know, Sofie," she whispers. "I know."
I figure brunch is out of the question, so I pull out of the parking lot and head back to Surrey. On the way home, Mom says nothing. Then, as she's taking off her seat belt, she says, "I liked what he said about God never making mistakes. There are no mistakes."
"Me too."
"I just don't want your life to be any harder than it has to be."
She begins crying again as she says this.
"Well, the only one making it hard for me right now is you."

﻿Would you like to be featured on the Daily Book Spotlight?

Have a book that we can add to one of our sections in the next couple of weeks? Let us LIST it!

To give me an excuse to check amazon daily for freebies, sales, new releases, and pre-orders, I've started this list. It makes me feel a little less like a crazy person knowing I can share my addiction with other book hoarders. -Jude